Midnight Mass
by JaydenBell
Summary: Flack and Ava both have plans for Christmas eve that bring them closer. Oneshot.


**This started out as a drabble, but with very little arm twisting, was re-written into a short one-shot. I own nothing you recognize. Ava Connelly (from Who Wants To Live Forever) belongs to TessaStarDean, but I was given permission to play ;P**

***************

Flack headed to the locker room quickly after passing off his cases. It was after 9 pm on Christmas eve and he really wanted to leave.

He flew into the room, slamming his locker open and pulling out a clean, pressed dress shirt and hanging it from the top of the locker door. As he began undressing, he heard someone walking into the locker room.

"Headed out?" Ava asked as she appeared next to him, turning the combination on her own lock.

"Yeah. Finally."

Ava raised an eyebrow as he continued to change, making very quick work of his buttons before tucking the clean shirt in. "Got a date on Christmas eve?" she commented with a smirk.

"Got somewhere to be, yeah." He sat down on the bench behind him and reached into his locker for a different pair of shoes.

Ava shook her head and reached into her own locker, pulling out a thin garment bag. She headed for a stall without a word as Flack quickly changed shoes. When she returned a minute later, her clothes were in the bag and she was wearing a delicate black dress with capped sleeves and a slight v-cut in the front.

Flack had put his jacket back on, as well as a long overcoat, and was just about to close his locker when he caught sight of his partner. "Wow, you look nice."

"You don't have to act so surprised, ya know," Ava said as she put her bag in her locker and pulled out a pair of low heels. She held onto the front of her locker as she brought each foot up in turn to put them on, then stood straight and smoothed the dress over her body.

"I'm not. It's just…you look really nice."

"You're not the only one with big plans tonight."

"I'm just goin' to mass," he shrugged.

Ava smirked a little and took her long black coat from her locker. After pulling it over her shoulders and shutting her locker, she stepped toward Flack. "So am I."

Flack looked into her eyes and smiled. "Then how about we start a Christmas tradition together?" He offered out his arm to her, waiting hopefully.

Ava buttoned three large buttons on the front of her coat to keep it wrapped tightly around her body, then nodded as she wrapped her arm lightly in his, and let him lead her out the door.

They walked silently through the building and out the front door to the sidewalk where a light snow had been falling all day. Ava held Flack's arm tighter and pressed her body close into his side as the temperature difference became very shocking. And Flack was happy to protect her from the cold.

Though it was never discussed out loud, Ava assumed they were headed to the church Flack had planned on attending that night, as he was leading their serene walk. The freezing temperatures kept their conversations at a stand-still, but they didn't need to talk. They were comfortable enough with each other to simply enjoy the peace.

They both watched other people on the streets and sidewalks, going about their nights. No matter where people were going or what they were doing, they all seemed to have a light air about them and the falling snow made everyone look…different. Flack looked down at Ava a couple times during their walk, just to look at her. She seemed deep in thought, and worried, and amazing, all at once. As the snow fell in her dark hair and on the dark fabric of her dark coat, she seemed to glow like an angel. He was pretty sure he wasn't the first person to recognize that about her, but he was certain she hadn't seen it in a while.

Only steps away from the church, Ava pulled Flack from his thoughts as she gripped his arm tightly once more and looked around. "I thought we were going to your church."

"Yeah, we're here," he pointed to the church. They walked up the steps and into the building, warm and inviting, the chill from the harsh winter air already being forgotten.

Ava grinned as she took her coat off and draped it over her arm. "Don, this is my church."

He scanned the room once and looked at her with a curious expression. "Well who could have guessed that the fates would have put us in the same church tonight, one way or another?"

Ava took Flack's hand and led him to a pew near the back. After sitting, she turned to him and smiled. "Fate can stick us in the same city together. Only God could have managed to put us in the same church on Christmas eve."


End file.
